


Plausible Deniability

by Plotbunnyhunter



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Gen, Introspection, Magic Revealed, No Spoilers, Not Beta Read, set somewhere in season 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:28:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22451920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plotbunnyhunter/pseuds/Plotbunnyhunter
Summary: Arthur can't sleep and thinks about his manservant.Short character introspection on a guy who cannot possibly be THAT oblivious.
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 92





	Plausible Deniability

There was no particular moment when Arthur noticed. It wasn't one flippant display of magic that caught Arthur's eye one day, made him startle and frown at Merlin in suspicion. No grand magical gesture that shocked Arthur so much he stared at his servant, wide-eyed, mouth open in surprised shouts of betrayal or equally dramatic proclamations.  
No, there was no specific, one moment, where Arthur noticed Merlin's oddness and knew.  
So if someone where to ask Arthur when he noticed, well, he would shrug and give a half-answer somewhere between 'since the beginning' and 'just this afternoon'. Not that anyone but Arthur himself would ask this question, late at night, eyes fixated on his ceiling in contemplation.  
See, it wasn't just one moment, it was kind of all of them.  
Because Merlin had been odd right from the beginning. Foul-mouthed and quick-witted, scrawny and reckless. And as Arthur got to know him better in the days following their first meeting, he added clumsy and simple-minded, brave and focused and easily distracted to this mental list.  
Every single one of these traits themselves weren't particularly note-worthy, but together they always formed a picture that just never quite fit together, always seemed to blur when looking directly at it and seemingly changing when focusing on it out of the corner of his eye.  
Every single instance of Merlin being weird – Merlin dropping something and catching it just in time despite the distance to the object being just a bit too wide for it to go so smoothly. Merlin hiding things and comments right in front of Arthur's nose, a sharp glint of something golden when Arthur wasn't looking, Merlin remaining uninjuried during expeditions that hurt half his knighthood, and yet seemingly unable to walk down a flight of stairs without hurting himself.  
All these incidents, which started right after Merlin became Arthur's manservant and never really stopped, could be chalked up to plausibel deniability. And Arthur tried.  
No he hadn't just tried, it had been his first reaction and his second and third. Merlin was just weird. Merlin was just clumsy. Merlin was just surprisingly agile, outrageously lucky, ironically well-read for a farmer's boy.  
The thing was, despite what the manservant himself would claim any day, Arthur wasn't stupid.  
So the evidence kept presenting itself, and Arthur kept re-arraging the picture, not daring for the thought to surface in his head, because it couldn't be, it was laughable, really, the boy he had come to like so much after only such a short time, he couldn't – it was Merlin, for crying out loud!  
But the thought broke out out of the depth of Arthur's mind late one night, so all that was left for him was to stare at the ceiling, and the only thought that followed the dreaded idea he had half-denied for a while now, was:  
„ _Oh_.“  
Because _of course Merlin was magic_.  
There was no anger, no imminent feeling of betrayal, not even fear of the one he let into his life every day.  
Just a silent realization, dawning on his mind, leaving him feeling a bit numb, a bit exasperated, but mostly worried.  
He couldn't find it in him to feel betrayed or angry with Merlin for lying to him, mostly because the servant had done it so badly. He had barely tried to conceal himself, it seemed, or he really just was that bad at it.  
Merlin had left a spellbook on the ground for Arthur to find, for crying out loud.  
How had he even survived this long?  
Oh god, his father would kill him.  
Arthur moved both arms to his forehead to claw at his hair, then grabbed at his pillow and pressed it into his face and let out a defeated groan.  
He couldn't tell a soul about his 'discovery', if they didn't already know anyway. The knights probably at least suspected something going on, heck, most of Camelot probably suspected _something_. The question was just what exactly, and if anyone was going to act on it.  
Arthur absolutely couldn't let Merlin's secret go public, couldn't let anyone know, would have to protect his bumbling servant even better than he already tried to.  
There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Merlin wasn't evil. The idea didn't even occur to him until he was well into the thought exercise of coming up with plausible excuses to Uther should he ever notice something wrong. Because Uther surely would have Merlin executed on the spot for his evil magic. But as far as Arthur knew, Merlin hadn't used a single evil spell.  
He had saved Arthur's life instead. Repeatetly. He had also dropped most of the cuttlery the castle possessed.  
There was absolutely no way that Merlin was evil or hell-bent on destroying Camelot. Heck, he probably would have done so, for all he was unable to conceal his magic. Might have as well revealed himself and ceased the throne in one fell swoop, but he didn't, because he was _Merlin_ , and Merlin obviously held no such ambitions.  
Because for all his powers, and live-saving activities, there was not a single vein in Arthur's body that didn't also believe that Merlin was still a blumbering idiot that was going to get himself killed or worse any day now if Arthur didn't protect him.

He realized, belatedly, that Merlin probably hadn't told him his secret because he must be afraid. Afraid of Uther, of being executed or worse. There was a brief flicker of shame there, because Arthur hadn't even considered Merlin might be afraid to tell him and was genuiely trying to stay hidden instead of playing some kind of teasing-game with Arthur. Or maybe he was. For all the time Arthur spend with him, his manservant still remained relatively unknown to him, no matter how many ideas Arthur spun about his motivations in the darkness of his chamber.  
Arthur tries to imagine it. Living in the castle, with the constant fear of being found out, being executed, for a small misstep, a wrong word here or a badly timed handwave there. Arthur lay there, let the fear grib his heart and freeze his limbs, shuddered and pulled the pillow from his face.  
How Merlin wasn't dead yet was absolutely beyond him, and he realized behind the trepidation and the worry was a pull of admiration in his heart.

Arthur just hoped Merlin would tell him sometime soon, would realize that he could confide in his prince, his friend, and share the burden. Just so Arthur could protect him better, so he wouldn't be alone with the fear. Until then, Arthur didn't have the heart to confront him about it. He might just drive him away, and Arthur wasn't sure he wanted Merlin gone, despite their relatively short acquaintance. Scratch that, Arthur was very sure he wanted the only manservant to ever challenge him to remain by his side. Magical powers and secrets be damned.  
Arthur turned on his bed, fists clenching with resolution. He would wait, until his friend was ready to trust him. And until then he just had to protect the idiot. 

Arthur just hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long.

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, after three straight days of reading Merlin fanfiction, this happened. I've never even seen the show, so any canon-non-compliance is both accidental and intended.


End file.
